One big reason to move your family out of certain cities – and fast

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Go green.

Children who grow up in less green environments are at 55% higher risk of developing mental disorders later in life than those growing in greener areas, according to a study by Aarhus University in Denmark and this week. published in the peer group. -reviewed American Journal PNAS.

To determine this, the researchers looked at satellite images of Denmark from 1985 to 2013 to find out how much green space around the homes of children was. They then compared it to the risk of 16 mental disorders in adulthood, including drug abuse, OCD, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, depression and personality disorders.

The result: Those who lived in the capitals with the least green space had the greatest risk of mental disorders, while those in rural areas with more green space had the lowest risk. It was true even to control socio-economic factors and parental history of mental illness.

All the more, the longer you are in greener spaces during childhood, the better your chances of good mental health.

"The risk of developing a mental disorder is increasing the longer you are surrounded by green space from birth to age 10," says study author Kristine Engemann, a graduate student in the Department of Bioscience and the National Center for Registry-based Research at the University of Aarhus. "Green space through childhood is therefore extremely important."

See also: Why does Hillary Clinton walk so much?

Of course, this study does not prove causality. And you can live in a big city and live near a very green space. The study found that it was so useful to your future mental health as surrounded by the same amount of green fits in a rural area.

It's not the first study to find that green spaces can improve people's mental health. A 50-minute walk in nature reduces anxiety and increases happiness, a recent study published in the magazine Landscape & Urban Planning revealed, and exposure to nature "reduces mental fatigue and the feelings of incitement that comes with it, "according to a separate report published in Environment & Behavior.

Overall, there is a large number of evidence that urban environments correlate with higher mental illness. "Nearly a century of research has shown a greater risk of mental disorder among people living in urban versus rural areas," according to a study published in the Epigenetics journal, following look at the genetic origin of disease and poor health.

What about greener pastures that promote health? It's not quite clear, but some scientists suggest that it can change us physically, our brain activity may differ, lower blood pressure and more.

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